Recommended Anime/Manga?

[Zeether]

I watched MD Geist. Manga has it on their Youtube channel so I watched the first OVA.

It was bad but in the "so bad it's good" way. The main character rips a guy's arms off and crushes people's heads. In one scene he lances a robot suit and you can see the blood coming out from the pilot being stabbed. Also, cheesy 80's/90's dubbing. This is the stuff old Manga anime releases are made of, and it amuses me to no end. If they have Cyber City Oedo on there I'm going to watch it and laugh my ass off at the amped up dialogue like "You couldn't tell the difference between a vampire if he bit off your dick."

[Icarus]

So I'm sat here watching the first episode of Appleseed XIII, and I'm wondering, "what the hell did you guys do to my Deunan?!"
The animation and art direction appears to have taken a step backward from the 2004 film which I adored, but I'll give it a few more episodes before I pass total judgement.

[jonny5]

So I'm sat here watching the first episode of Appleseed XIII, and I'm wondering, "what the hell did you guys do to my Deunan?!"
The animation and art direction appears to have taken a step backward from the 2004 film which I adored, but I'll give it a few more episodes before I pass total judgement.

Sounds just like the sequel, Appleseed Ex Machina. I recall how disappointed I was after watching it. Definitely felt like a huge step back from what they did with the 2004 film.

[Obiwanshinobi]

I thought the 2004 film was bad enough - especially the animation and lighting.

[jonny5]

I thought the 2004 film was bad enough - especially the animation and lighting.

I don't know, compared to other stuff in 2004, especially heavily CGI style anime, it was pretty amazing.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Well, for my money MGS3 cutscenes rendered in real time by the - already five years old in 2004 - PS2 looked better (maybe except for the facial expressions).
Or God Hand cutscenes... 2006, but the PS2 didn't get any younger.
Going back to 2004, this DDS cutscene does cel-shaded dudes well (it's an FMV this time around, but the environment and character models look almost as crude as the game renders them in real time; it's just all antialiased here and maybe the ligthing is a wee bit more complex).

[Icarus]

I thought the 2004 film was bad enough - especially the animation and lighting.

The 2004 film was stylistic, and nicely animated. They did a good job of that in my opinion, at the very least it was watchable.
Go watch Appleseed XIII, it's really bad in comparison to Appleseed 2004, stuff on the PS2, heck, even stuff on the PS1 and N64. I'm actually quite let-down, as the Appleseed name deserves better, but I'm soldiering on in the hope it's got a vaguely entertaining plot and better art later in the series.

[drauch]

"what the hell did you guys do to my Deunan?!".

This. Those new CGI Appleseed movies make her look like so much dog shit.

[Ghegs]

Finished with Mobile Suit Gundam (very awesome), went through 0080: War in the Pocket and 0083: Stardust Memory as per greg's suggestion and was sufficiently entertained, even though the kid in 0080 was annoying at times and 0083 did indeed have some silly plot "twists". Started on Zeta Gundam...

...and WTF is this shit? This Kamille brat is so utterly annoying and unlikable. I'm six episodes in and he has already sneaked into a Gundam's cockpit while other people are two feet away and taken it out at least four times, and nobody seems to mind. At best it's "Hey, you can't go in there!" "Oh, let him do it." When that happened in the first series somebody got thrown into the brig pretty fast. You'd think they kept a tighter watch around machines of war costing a billion dollars each so that untrained teenagers couldn't just take them out when their whiny emo selves felt like it. The rest of the cast or plot so far doesn't fare much better, I'm having a hard time finding anything interesting to hold on to. Seems unbelievable that Yoshiyuki Tomino is the writer/director for both this and the first series.

Only reason I'm watching it now is because they keep dropping the original White Base crew into scenes here and there and I'm hoping they'll play a big role in the plot. But if that doesn't happen soon I'm probably going to drop this.

[Obiwanshinobi]

The 2004 film was stylistic, and nicely animated.

It's called stylistic now? Uh, m-kay. I guess Akira apologists shoud jot it down in their notepads.

Started on Zeta Gundam...

...and WTF is this shit? This Kamille brat is so utterly annoying and unlikable.

You said it.
Battle spaceships sporting bridges glazed like some veranda, so the whole Gundam can get rammed in through the window and that sort of stuff I can stand as the mecha folklore's benefit of the inventory. Say, in Arabian fairy tales, things like flying carpets come with the turf.
Gundam characters, however, if Zeta and SEED are anything to judge by, are just... you know. Maybe that's the way real life military people are, but it doesn't make for a compelling show in my book.

[Gus]

Drop that shit and watch G Gundam.

[greg]

...and WTF is this shit? This Kamille brat is so utterly annoying and unlikable.
....
Only reason I'm watching it now is because they keep dropping the original White Base crew into scenes here and there and I'm hoping they'll play a big role in the plot. But if that doesn't happen soon I'm probably going to drop this.

Amuro was a brat too. Remember when he left the White Base practically undefended when he has a snit and steals the Gundam and wanders aimlessly in the desert? In the end he is able to avert Ramba Ral's attack, but he was still an immature putz. Kamille is a punkass kid, but he totally grows up throughout Zeta. Keep watching and pretty soon you'll see Captain Bright join the AEUG, and Amuro will end up joining forces with Char as they put their differences behind them to work for a common goal. The Titans have corrupted the Earth Federation, so they all unite to stop them. Kai will play a minor part, and Hayato will play a major part in both Zeta and Double Zeta. The story to Zeta is huge, and it is more politically complex. Don't give up!

Drop that shit and watch G Gundam.

Please Ghegs, don't bother with G(hey) Gundam. It's so lame. If you think it's cool to see a human being able to punch a Gundam with his fist and damage it, plus lots of Ranma 1/2-style wacky hijinks, then go ahead and watch it. But in my opinion, G Gundam totally defeats everything that Gundam was meant to be. Just stick to the UC Gundam timeline.

[Ghegs]

Amuro was a brat too. Remember when he left the White Base practically undefended when he has a snit and steals the Gundam and wanders aimlessly in the desert?

Amuro wasn't nearly as annoying and I liked the character from early on, while Kamille just makes me want to punch him. Amuro's character was better developed at the start which made it easier for me to understand him, I think. Kamille just sort of pops up and ANGST ANGST ANGST. And when Amuro did stupid things he got punished good and proper, like with time in the brig and the Bright Slap. Everybody in Zeta seems to forget Kamille's Grand Theft Gundam the moment he brings the suit back in, time and time again.

But I'll keep watching.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Kamille gets punched in the face at least once, but it doesn't save the show.
Oddly, one of things that helped me endure Zeta was the appearance of White Base kids, as I watched it after Eureka seveN.

[greg]

Amuro wasn't nearly as annoying and I liked the character from early on, while Kamille just makes me want to punch him. Amuro's character was better developed at the start which made it easier for me to understand him, I think. Kamille just sort of pops up and ANGST ANGST ANGST. And when Amuro did stupid things he got punished good and proper, like with time in the brig and the Bright Slap. Everybody in Zeta seems to forget Kamille's Grand Theft Gundam the moment he brings the suit back in, time and time again.

But I'll keep watching.

Wait until Wong Lee comes along. He's an exec from Anaheim Electronics and funds the AEUG. He beats the shit out of Kamille when they first meet. By the end of the series, Kamille is a disciplined soldier and is mentoring Katz on how to behave.

Kamille is a spoiled Gundam thief in the beginning, but after witnessing both of his parents murdered by the Titans, it does start to change him. Keep in mind that the AEUG mainly is comprised of disenfranchised former Fed and Zeon soldiers, pirates, and guerrillas. Stealing a Gundam MkII from the Titans actually is a positive thing among this crowd and likely gained Kamille instant fame among the AEUG.

[chempop]

I just picked up 3 DVDs

Boogiepop Phantom V.1 (Now I just need disk 4 to complete the series). Fantastic show, some of the best sound production period.
I love the episode with the "perfume", so hilarious and disturbing.

BLAME - Watched this once a while back, remember liking it but don't remember much about it. Will view this weekend.

JIN-ROH - A masterpiece through and through. One of my all time favorite full lengths. I've actually used a good chunk of the soundtrack in a theater show I wrote, directed, and produced a number of years back.

[ancestral-knowledge]

the BLAME manga is my favourite manga so far. It's very brutal, minimalistic and dark. I think it's even better than berserk but i don't know about the anime. Most of the time animes are just washed out, dumbed down and censored versions of mangas and if an anime is extremly good than it's usually because it's close to the manga instead of fucking everything up. there are a very few exceptions to this.

[chempop]

Thoroughly enjoyed BLAME! I just wish it was longer, out of the 35min I think 10min was credits in between the short chapters. Remarkable art and atmosphere though.

Just picked up the Gurren Lagann boxset. Someone here said they liked it so I figured I'd try it out, plus it was only $35 so I couldn't resisit. It was between that and Elfen Leid (sp?), which I've heard mixed things about.

[Moniker]

Maybe y'all can recommend me some good anime. I'm a relative neophyte. Here's what I've liked so far:


Loved: Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo, FLCL, Death Note (well, the first half)

Quite Liked: Black Lagoon, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (though it got a bit stale towards the end), Monster

Kinda Liked: Blue Gender (cool X-COM look, decent plot, crap animation)

Stopped Watching: Gunslinger Girl (i don't wanna be a pedophile...), Gurran Lagann (animation didn't wow me), Buccanno! (too concept-heavy maybe?)


I guess I favor artwork/animation > characters/dialogue > story/plot > concept. Started watching X today; looks promising, though the first episode is freakin' overloaded with characters. Any idea of other series I might like?

[Gus]

Going by what you said you liked I'd recommend ef: a tale of memories. Some of the best animation and characters I've ever seen.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Best animation (and I mean the style rather than number of frames per second, the latter depending greatly on show's budget and as such scattered all over the place) in TV shows is generally to be found in the works of BONES. For starters I recommend Scrapped Princess (short and sweet, if graphically rough around the edges) and Eureka Seven (more polished and just as lovely all around). Then Windy Tales - perhaps THE best animated TV show out there.
Then usual stuff, already mentioned many times: Kino no Tabi, Last Exile, Evangelion, Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu (the DTV-rip by a.f.k. in the original airing order rather than any enhanced version), Hajime no Ippo, Planetes, Gokudo, Kaleido Star, Haibane Renmei, Ima, Soko ni Iru Boku...
Not everything listed above has all that great animation (Haibane Renmei just looks cheap), but all are fairly "safe" good ones, either short or not too outlandish (hence Gintama or Sunabouzu didn't make the list). Needless to say, everything should be watched with the original voice acting.
Since you liked FLCL, I may as well suggest Tenamonya Voyagers. By no means must see, but it's short enough to be safely recommended.

[xbl0x180]

Maybe y'all can recommend me some good anime. I'm a relative neophyte. Here's what I've liked so far:


Loved: Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo, FLCL, Death Note (well, the first half)

Quite Liked: Black Lagoon, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (though it got a bit stale towards the end), Monster

Kinda Liked: Blue Gender (cool X-COM look, decent plot, crap animation)

Stopped Watching: Gunslinger Girl (i don't wanna be a pedophile...), Gurran Lagann (animation didn't wow me), Buccanno! (too concept-heavy maybe?)


I guess I favor artwork/animation > characters/dialogue > story/plot > concept. Started watching X today; looks promising, though the first episode is freakin' overloaded with characters. Any idea of other series I might like?

It seems as if you like Sci-Fi oriented anime more than anything, so I'm going to recommend that sort of fare.

Highly recommended: Outlaw Star, Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memories, Top Wo Nerae! GunBuster, Macross Plus, BubbleGum Crisis, and Ulysses 31.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOijLdfb3vo

Recommended: PatLabor movies 1 and 2, Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: A War In The Pocket, Super Dimensional Fortress Macross (the AnimEigo versions), Space Adventure Cobra, and Armored Trooper Votoms.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrzvOEcizRo

Recommended with reservations: Metal Skin Panic MADOX-01 (OAV), Macross Plus movie (a condensed version of the four OAVs), Kishin Heidan, Giant Robo, Mazinkaiser, Shin Cutey Honey, Orguss (old and new), and Machine Robo.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDHPdQi- ... re=related

By the way, I LOVED Blue Gender in spite of its crappy/choppy animation. I remember when it first aired on Adult Swim, I'd never miss an episode of that s***. It reminded me of how captivated I was with V back in the 80s

[chempop]

I'm 6 episodes deep in Gurren Lagann, quite entertaining and a nice change of pace from the usually much darker and serious stuff I tend to gravitate towards.

I recently caught a preview for FREEDOM, basically shit my pants. Never even heard of this, but my first thought was Akira prequel?!?? I know it isn't directly related but it certainly could have fooled me. Anyone seen it before?

For recommendations I always say the same stuff: Wolf's Rain, MushiShi, Gankutsuou, Ergo Proxy, Texhnolyze, GitS:SAC, Gungrave, Otogi Zoshi, Shigurui, Black Lagoon, Kinos Journey... Etc

[Moniker]

By the way, I LOVED Blue Gender in spite of its crappy/choppy animation. I remember when it first aired on Adult Swim, I'd never miss an episode of that s***. It reminded me of how captivated I was with V back in the 80s

Yeah, BG's story was really really good. Would make a great pulp novel. And the art was a refreshing break from your typical giant eyes and improbably long legs. Action scenes were well done too. After awhile, I was able to forgive the perfect-glide capabilities of the mechs, but in every episode there'd be something to break the illusion: *people* shouldn't glide perfectly as they walk, and a group of horses shouldn't walk in step (unless they're nazi horses.. ), and dammit, things should get smaller as they move away from the camera!

I don't know jack about the animation process, but I suspect there was a bit of laziness coupled with the budget restrictions. Uji (Yuji?)'s screaming on various topics got a little old, but Marlene was pretty awesome throughout. Didn't hurt that they showed her knockers at the end of each episode.

Thanks for all the recs, btw. Should keep me busy for awhile. =)

[xbl0x180]

I recently caught a preview for FREEDOM, basically shit my pants. Never even heard of this, but my first thought was Akira prequel?!?? I know it isn't directly related but it certainly could have fooled me. Anyone seen it before?

I've had that on my Amazon wishlist for years! I've known about it, but I just haven't gotten around to ordering it (there's just waaaaay too much I'm buying). However, I have a feeling I will like it just from seeing clips and stills

[NTSC-J]

I just got Berserk 36.

I try to avoid the serials in Young Animal and just wait for the collected volumes, but I still know what to expect and it's not what I want out of Berserk. I just don't dig the armor or Guts' crew or the pointless monster battles. The pacing makes me nervous and not because I'm anxious to read the next installment, but if Miura takes three years to have them get to an island, the actual important stuff is going to take ages.

Anime in January should be neat, though. This new issue comes with a 200 yen coupon for a movie ticket which doesn't hurt. If only I had someone to go with.

[drauch]

I just got Berserk 36.

I try to avoid the serials in Young Animal and just wait for the collected volumes, but I still know what to expect and it's not what I want out of Berserk. I just don't dig the armor or Guts' crew or the pointless monster battles. The pacing makes me nervous and not because I'm anxious to read the next installment, but if Miura takes three years to have them get to an island, the actual important stuff is going to take ages.

Anime in January should be neat, though. This new issue comes with a 200 yen coupon for a movie ticket which doesn't hurt. If only I had someone to go with.

Yeah, I'm getting kinda scared myself. I like the current arc, but I certainly don't like it as much as I used to. I'm afraid Miura is gonna dick around too long and die before he finishes the damn thing.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

I'm 6 episodes deep in Gurren Lagann, quite entertaining and a nice change of pace from the usually much darker and serious stuff I tend to gravitate towards.

I recently caught a preview for FREEDOM, basically shit my pants. Never even heard of this, but my first thought was Akira prequel?!?? I know it isn't directly related but it certainly could have fooled me. Anyone seen it before?

For recommendations I always say the same stuff: Wolf's Rain, MushiShi, Gankutsuou, Ergo Proxy, Texhnolyze, GitS:SAC, Gungrave, Otogi Zoshi, Shigurui, Black Lagoon, Kinos Journey... Etc

The Blu-Ray boxed disc set of Freedom anime is ace, especially when viewed in 1080p format. Paid the asking MSRP of $99.99 USD when it was up for sale at my local Best Buy back in the day and well worth it indeed. There are some cool Freedom extras as well to digress at your leisure. The opening intro of each Freedom episode even features a cool candy cab in the background scenery (a forgotten relic from a by-gone era perhaps?). How cool is that? Of course, there aren't any game center themed scenes nor even a single candy cab scene within the actual Freedom episodes though.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Icarus]

Fate/Zero! Gogogogogo!

[duckman]

I just finished episode 10 of Bakemonogatari and I'm just about to delete the series from my PC because this show is TERRIBLE. PowerPoint "animation" + 80% of show is long dialogue = dull and boring. What's worse is that a lot of the shitty non-animation was deliberately put there to sell Blu-rays, a scam that worked phenomenally well.